Susan Nguyen
Captain Susan Nguyen * Real Name: Susan Amelia Kawruang-Nguyen * Home Civilization: Selenite (Panglish Speaking) * Citizenship: Discon Cis-Lunar Federation * Birthplace: Birthing Center, Icarus Habitat, Earth-orbit * Birthdate: 14 Mensis Virginis (August 16), 3859 CE * Age (as of 3900 CE): 25 Biological, 41 Objective * Kinship: Stewart Malhotra-Nguyen and Howard Li-Kawruang (fathers), Julia Malhotra-Nguyen (aunt), Linda Kato-Malhotra, Maureen Sharma-Nguyen (grandmothers), Travis Chandra-Kawruang (grandfather), Elizabeth 'Beth' Whitefeather-Chawla (grandmother), Kalpana Modi-Li (grandmother) * Profession: Pilot, shiphand, later Owner/Operator of the Free Driver Kublai[[Kublai Khan| Khan]]. Physical Description Raised in a habitat maintained at Selene-standard gravity of 0.16g (a little over one-tenth Earth-standard), Susan has a standard 'low-gravity' build, tall and thin by planetsider standards at 203 cm and averaging around 70-75 kg for most of her adulthood, fairly average, if not a little heavy, by Selenite standards. She had black hair, brown irises, a prominent nose and epicanthal folds around her eyes. While not considered beautiful by the very specific, exacting, mathematical standards of her own society, her face was often remembered as 'notable' or 'interesting', focused mostly on her mobile, expressive mouth and smile. As a crewmember of Drivers for most of her adult life, Susan kept her hair cut short and practical and dressed as a 'typical' spacer, tough fabrics and leathers, a bit grubby, tools on her belt, laser at her hip. For much of her career, she especially favored the short leather jacket of the Tau Ceti Legion covered with patches indicating her various allegiances over the years. Personality Susan is, above all else, interested in freedom, which often means power. Growing up in the interconnected, mutualist society of Selene's guiding philosophy of Eudaimonianism , she was raised with the idea of all things being judged against the Greater Good, and every action impacting the greater society. Thus, when she rebelled against that system of values, and she rebelled early, she never lost that basic set of assumptions, so that she tends to see freedom as a zero-sum game, so that her freedom often entails disregarding someone else's wellbeing. Outside of freedom, and subjects relative to preserving her personal freedom, such as maintenance of her ship, financial security and access to resources, her primary goal is pleasure. She takes pleasure in not just the traditional Driver crew diversions of sex, although she retains her culture's casual attitude to sexual encounters, the vaping of theece and gambling (primarily three-spin), but also in cultural pursuits such as poetry, literature and song. Her gambling is of special note. She has a great affinity for not only the traditional games of her own people (such as Multiplex and StaggerStats) and or of Driver culture, such as the ubiquitous three-spin, but also for any kind of risk-taking, to the point where it is hard for her to turn down the opportunity to engage in such activities, a propensity that has concerned several of her friends and associates have speculated if she perhaps is addicted to the adrenaline and dopamine rushes. As the recipient of a classical Selenite education, considered one of the best in the Home System, which puts it high in the ratings for all of Human Space, Susan has a great grasp of cultural and artistic history (general history less so, not a subject emphasized in her upbringing), as any Federation citizen is expected to be Cultural literate. Her love of poetry and literature, especially Recovery-era novels and the poetry of the Cetani Diaspora, are part of what sparked, or at least gave voice, to her urges to break with what she saw as the stifling restrictions of her society. Her love of poetry is still important, and has guided her actions to this day, such as the time she spent with the Aberles-lanzu influenced by her love of the meditations of Klaras of the Binoc-lanzu the so-called "Last Poet-Captains", or her admiration for the later works of Giyadin influencing her decision to pilot her Driver, the Kublai Khan to Aaru at the time of the Aaru Regency. She shuns all larger, societal allegiances but can be fiercely loyal in her personal relationships, such as with her adopted brother Morgan or her crew. But, as a Selenite, she tends to compartmentalize these loyalties, so that a friend is a friend, a lover is a lover and a crewmate is a crewmate, all with different obligations. She works towards she believes their best interests, but often without consulting them. This especially causes problems in her romantic life when she becomes entangled with people who do not take such connections as casually as she does. For all of this, she is quick-witted and capable and charismatic with a gift for inspired solutions and talking people around to her way of thinking. She trusts her own abilities sometimes beyond their limits, and has a definite propensity for improvisation over heavy planning, at least in part because of the thrill it gives her (see the above on risk-taking). Biography Childhood Susan Amelia Kawruang-Nguyen was decanted on August 16, 3859 CE from the natal labs aboard the Icarus Habitat, the habitation complex for the Daedalus Shipyards at Earth's L4 Lagrange Point. She had been engineered from the X-chromosomes of Stewart Malhotra-Nguyen, a mid-level administrator in Icarus' supply section and his long-time partner Howard Li-Kawruang, a shift supervisor for the Daedalus Yards maintenance units. The Nguyen line was especially well-regarded in Icarus administrative circles and Stewart admitted at the time that he'd made Susan a daughter in imitation of his powerful mothers, who were members of the Board of Tenants on Icarus.